A networked printer may provide a valuable printing service to many different users that connect to the printer. To function effectively and flexibly, such a printer generally should be capable of receiving print requests through two or more distinct physical connection sites or ports on the printer. Each of these ports may be configured to communicate with users located at different distances and/or through distinct communication modes. Accordingly, a multi-port printer may receive some print requests through a first port that is directly connected to a personal computer, through a second port that communicates with a wide area network, through a third port that receives wireless requests, and/or so on. This type of arrangement may increase the number of printers available to each user and the number of users that can access each printer, improving the efficiency with which suitable printers are matched with a given print job. For example, mobile users may send print jobs to printers based on the proximity of the printers. In addition, a greater number of printers with special capabilities, such as high resolution, high speed, or color, may become available to each user.
Despite the value of placing a printer on a network, this network connectivity also may cause some problems in printer management. For example, some printers are not physically accessible to specific users at certain times. Such printers may be located in an office or in a section of a building that is locked or requires a security clearance at night. If users are allowed to print to such printers during times of restricted access, consumable printing supplies may be wasted. For example, a user may not be able to retrieve the printed material in a timely fashion and may turn to another printer, one that is accessible. Thus the materials printed first may be duplicated, forgotten, and wasted. One solution would be to turn off the printer to avoid unauthorized or inefficient use of the printer. However, this solution prevents the printer from being ready for users who are authorized and/or have physical access to the printer. Accordingly, to optimize resources the printer should always be ready to print for the users who are authorized and have access to the printer, but should deny immediate printing for the unauthorized user without access.
If these different types of users were connected through different printer ports, one approach for controlling printing would be to physically disconnect one of the ports to deny print requests from that one port. However, this approach may require that a printer administrator be physically present at appropriate times for disconnecting and reconnecting the port. Furthermore, this approach also may be disadvantageous because the disconnected users cannot easily receive any information about printer specifications or status, for example, whether the printer might be suitable at another time or is currently ready to print (includes paper, ink, etc.). By contrast, disconnected users that could access such information might be able to initiate printing through a different printer port, for example, by entering a restricted area in a building. Therefore, a system is needed that maintains connectivity through each printer port while selectively blocking print requests received from designated ports.